Lilly's Afterstory
by soopahotthunder
Summary: A window in time several years after Hisao and Lilly's graduation from Yamaku.


Hey ! I'm soopahotthunder, and as you may have already guessed, I'm new around here. I like reading and writing fiction in general, and I hope I can make a few friends while I'm around here. Anyway, what follows is one of a small set of fanfics I am still working on. They're basically epilogues to Katawa Shoujo, and I tried to capture the spirit of the original writing while offering my own vision of the later life of Hisao and his chosen partner. I would be honored if you guys would tear this apart and show me exactly what I need to work on to become a better writer or what mistakes I made when writing this story. In short, have at it, and tell me what you guys think.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy!

As I pulled the porcelain teacup up to my lips and took a long, hearty sip of the hot coffee, I took a second to admire the view around me. The grass was gently brushed with morning dew, with small dark paw prints indicating where the neighbourhood cat had passed through our garden on his morning stroll. The well-kept flowers in our garden were lightly kissed by the sliver of morning sun from the horizon, making the colours blend together in a vibrant but soothing cocktail of hues. The swing on the tree rocked slowly in the gentle breeze, as though there were a ghost child sitting on it, swinging his ghostly time away til the sun turned him into a mere shadow again. I breathed in the smell of twilight and sighed contentedly. This was the most relaxing part of my day; just sitting on the back porch, eating breakfast, waiting for my family to wake up.

Stomp, stomp, stomp. Speak of the devil. I readjusted myself in my seat, as though I needed to change my posture to fit that of the almighty and loving caregiver. I turned my head towards the back door. Suddenly, it creaked open, and two little smiling faces came through to greet me.

"Hi, Dad!" said my children in unison.

"Hey, kids," I replied, smiling, "sleep well?"

"Yes Daddy!" they beamed in chorus.

"Got your schoolbags ready?"

"Yup!"

"Then sit down and eat your breakfast. The toast is getting cold," I commanded.

They ran to the table and immediately began scarfing down their respective servings of toast with jam and scrambled eggs.

Suddenly, my little boy perked up his head and said "Daddy, can I go play with Kaz after school?"

"Right after you finish your homework, Akira," I said with a grin.

"Aww, man," pouted Akira, "I hate homework."

"Me too!" said my little girl while trying to chew an especially large mouthful of toast.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Hanako," I said sternly.

She cowered a bit and went back to her food. Akira finished quickly, and he jumped out of his seat and ran back into the house, while Hanako picked at her eggs, face downcast.

"What's the matter, honey? I thought you liked eggs," I said.

"I do like eggs," she said quietly, looking away.

"Then why do you look like they just called you fat?" I joked.

This evoked an unexpected reaction from my daughter. She looked shocked for a moment, then proceeded to drop the fork and bury her face in her tiny hands. I felt a pang of guilt, though I had no idea what I had said wrong.

"Hey now, what's wrong, Hanako? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," I said, concerned.

"It's not that, Daddy," she replied, her voice muffled by her palms.

"Come over here, and tell Daddy what it is," I said, smiling weakly.

She dropped her hands and slid out of her seat, walking slowly over to me. Trails of tears flowed from under her sky-blue eyes. Her short, auburn hair was disheveled, something very irregular for her considering she brushes it every day before school. I picked her up and placed her on my knee. She gripped my shirt front and buried her face in my chest. It killed me to see her this depressed first thing in the morning. We sat there for a while, me cradling her in my arms while she slowly stopped crying. Then she spoke, face still pressing against me.

"Fumiko falled me a dowk," she mumbled.

"Hmm?" I said, confused.

"Sumiko called me a dork," she said more clearly, looking me in the eyes, "and she and her friends don't wanna play with me anymore."

I placed my hand on her head, smiling comfortingly at her. "You're not a dork, darling. You're ten times the kid Sumiko ever will be."

She stared at me, expression unchanging. "But it still really hurts, and now we can't play together anymore," she replied, dejected.

"Of course you can still play with her," I said, "You just need to stand up to her, and tell her you aren't a dork and that she can't talk to you like that."

She buried her face in my chest again. I sighed deeply, petting her hair.

"I know it hurts when people say things like that to you. Believe me, I know. But that doesn't make them right, or any better than you. People like that are just mean. I'm not saying they're bad people. They might be going through something really hard or trying to get people to notice them, but that doesn't give them the right to treat you like that. You have to either tell them that's not okay, or just ignore them and find other people to be around. I know it probably doesn't sound like good advice, but just trust me. You're a good girl, and you have a big heart. Don't let people with smaller hearts get you down. There are lots of other good kids at that school. Sumiko will probably come around eventually and apologize to you herself."

Hanako looked up at me again, with an expression of curiosity. "Do you really think so, Dad?"

"I know so," I said, smiling, "I'm a scientist. I know everything."

She giggled happily, wiping tears from her eyes. I smiled at her, almost tearing up a bit myself. I love hearing her laughter, especially when I'm the cause of it. Her cheeks redden ever so delicately, and her giggles come rolling out of her mouth. In Hanako's smiling face, I can see that of her mother; playful, but proud, strong, yet caring. I nuzzle my nose into her hair, then put her back down on the ground.

"Now go get your schoolbag and get out of here, you'll miss the bus. Or worse, you'll catch your mother before she gets her coffee," I joked.

I hadn't even finished my sentence before Hanako started for the door, one hand waving towards me, shouting "Bye, Daddy!", already caring more about catching the bus than our conversation. I heard her running to the door, while her brother Akira called her.

"Come on, Hanako! We're gonna be late!" he shouted with anticipation.

Then I heard her schoolbag being lifted off the ground, a quick shuffling of tiny feet and the front door slamming shut. I was once again left alone in the house, sitting on the porch.

Well, almost alone.

There was a shuffling of feet coming from upstairs, then I heard slow, careful footsteps creeping down the stairs. I looked over at the door, feeling a sort of dull anticipation, the kind that you feel when you're about to see the most important person in the world to you for the first time that day. The sound of a slender, delicate hand searching for the handle emanated from behind the door, followed by the door creaking open. Slowly, Lilly stepped out onto the porch. I looked over her quickly. Her hair was a golden mess, strands of sunlit yellow falling every which way around her shoulders. Her eyes were glazed over and barely awake, like a dim light in a seedy backwater hotel. Her silken black bathrobe floated around her figure, barely touching her, but still projecting her silhouette perfectly. Her feet shuffled along the porch in her fluffy pink slippers as she seemingly dragged herself to the table. In this tired and disheveled state, I thought she looked more beautiful and radiant than the sun itself.

"Good morning, sunshine," I said softly.

She plopped herself down on the seat across from me, reaching tentatively for the cup of tea I had prepared for her earlier. She took a sip, then laid the cup down on the small plate and smiled in my general direction, hand reaching out to touch my face.

"Good morning, Hisao," she said quietly, breathing the words out in nearly a whisper.

I took her hand and guided it to my cheek. She cradled my cheek in her palm, before slowly sliding her fingers over my features. I lost myself in the feeling of her soft hands touching my face. She made to pull her hand away, but I caught it and brought it to my lips, planting a soft kiss on the back of her hand. She giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Feeling a bit romantic this morning, are we?" she said, smiling curiously at me.

"How could I not be? You make me happy to wake up every morning," I replied.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, young man," she said sternly, stifling a giggle.

"Oh, but it has. How do you think I got my degree?" I said.

"I would have hoped it to be through hard work," she said, "it would be no small amount of shame for me to be married to a slacker."

"Slacker?" I said, offended, "I'll have you know I work very hard at my job. I do lots of important things with lots of important people."

"What would you know of important people? You hardly ever leave the house," she replied teasingly.

"Just because I do most of my research in the comfort of my own castle doesn't mean I don't have friends in high places," I replied haughtily. "Besides," I added, placing one hand on Lilly's, "you're pretty important, I'd say."

"Ooh, you're quite the smooth talker today," she said with a grin, "I suppose you've just now remembered our anniversary was yesterday."

I froze. Goddammit. A million different equations float around my head all day and I can't remember a single date.

"Shit," I cursed, "I'm sorry, honey, I completely forgot, I was pulling another all-nighter last night and I didn't…"

Suddenly, she burst out laughing, tears welling up in her eyes. I paused for a moment, then flopped back onto my chair, head thrown back and looking to God for help.

"Dammit Lilly, you scared me so bad," I grumbled, slowly recovering from the mini-heart attack I just had.

"I'm sorry, Hisao," she choked out between giggles, "but you are just so fun to tease!"

I smiled weakly. Even after all these years, she still knows how to get the better of me. She's teased me for as long as I can remember her. You'd think 6 years of marriage would do something about that, but somehow we've never really grown out of trying to pull one over on one another. However, whenever I manage to have a chuckle at her expense, she gives me the most heart-wrenching, injured pout, and I grovel on my knees for ten minutes begging her to forgive me. I really don't mind that part anyway, because I always end up making her laugh, and that is what makes it all worth it. Hell, her smile is what makes every day worth living.

I moved my hand up from hers along her arm to her shoulder, then took her cheek into my hand. She nuzzled into my palm, eyes closed, looking like she was already asleep again.

"I love you, Lilly."

"I love you too, Hisao."

We sat there in silence for what seemed like a long time, potentially some decades. I cast my thoughts back to the time we first met. Even then, I knew that she was someone special, someone to be revered, admired, looked up to. I think "loved" was also dancing around the back of my mind, but not enough so as to stop her from impressing me with every move she made. Somehow, she had managed to not only take control of her disability, but in fact had risen above the mediocre. She still is the kind of person that perfectly able people treat with respect and admiration. Well, perhaps that was a poor choice of words; there is no such thing as a perfectly able person. Lilly taught me that as well. As humans, we all have weaknesses and limitations. No matter how much we strive for perfection, we will always have one thing we cannot do, or one burden we cannot bear. This is why humans, no, living things as a whole depend on one another. We help each other, and together become greater than anything we could individually imagine.

I was brought from my reverie by the quiet, almost imperceptible snores coming from across the table. Incredible. Lilly had actually fallen asleep on my hand. I laughed a bit, then shook her cheek a bit.

"Come on, sleepy. The other dwarves are waiting on you," I chuckled.

"Hm?" came the muffled reply of my still dreaming wife.

She took her head away from my hand, and reached again for her tea, nearly knocking it over. She picked up the cup and took a long sip from it, resting back against her seat, rubbing sleep from her eyes with her free hand.

"Seriously though, honey. Shouldn't you get going soon?" I asked, a bit concerned.

"There's no hurry. I'm only teaching this afternoon today," she murmured.

"I suppose the kids woke you up, then?" I said.

"Yes. Akira was up early today, so he wanted to go over some basic English vocabulary before he left," Lilly answered sleepily.

"Why don't you go back to bed then? I'll wake you up in time for your classes," I offered.

Lilly turned to me and grinned, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"Why don't _we_ go back to bed, since I'm already awake?" she suggested sweetly.

In fact, nothing would please me more. However, I wasn't going to bend to her whims without putting up a token resistance. It would seem… irresponsible of me.

"But I have so much research left to do for my paper, not to mention the articles I've been asked to review for this month's issue of the journal," I said coyly, "Really, I'm just drowning in work."

"That work can wait until later," she replied, placing her hand on my shoulder, "but I want you _now._ "

"You can also wait until later, really," I replied nonchalantly, "but the fate of the scientific community hinges on this research."

She withdrew her hand, and for a second she seemed genuinely hurt that I was brushing off her lascivious advances. Then, she hit me with the most adorably endearing pout I've ever seen in my life.

"All right, all right! I give! I was only kidding! Just please… stop that," I begged.

She giggled loudly. Then she stood up and took my hand, half-helping me up, half-dragging me from my chair. Not wanting to seem the weaker of the two of us, I quickly threw my arm behind her knees and picked her up, cradling her like I did on our wedding day. She laughed out loud, shaking in my arms. I carried her up the stairs and through our bedroom door. If there is a God out there, watching over us, then he has granted me a gift the likes of which humanity has never known, and saddled me with a debt I will never be able to repay.


End file.
